


Before

by baessclarinet



Category: Peter Pan & Related Fandoms, Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 19:48:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14880078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baessclarinet/pseuds/baessclarinet
Summary: This is inspired by Christina Henry's Lost Boy.





	1. Chapter 1

I woke up to Jamie shaking me. His hand was on my shoulder, and when I looked up, his eyes were filled with concern. He was crouched over me, moving the animal skin that had been covering my face. “Al, are you okay?” His voice was no more than a whisper. I nodded in response, not yet able to find my voice. “Have another bad dream?” I couldn’t remember, so I shrugged. His hand moved to my forehead and he wiped away some sweat that must have formed while I was sleeping.  
I sat up and Jamie adjusted so he was on his knees next to me. I could barely remember when I had drifted to sleep. It had still been light out, and now moonlight had washed over the tree. I took in the sight of all of the other boys, even Peter, asleep and curled up under their skins. It was almost too peaceful compared to the celebration of the day.  
We had gone on a raid. We had to trek all the way to the pirate’s camp, which was on the northeast corner of the island. It took almost a whole day to get there - then we actually had to raid the pirates. The hike seemed longer than normal because we had so many new boys with us. Peter had recently brought 4 new boys over from The Other Place. They had never gone on this adventure before, so they kept stopping to look at new things. Peter got frustrated with the new boys and went ahead without us. We did stop to rest and eat when we had finally found Peter again, but only for a little bit. He was impatient. When we finally got to the pirates, they put up a good fight. A lot of them seemed younger and stronger than others. The new captain must have gotten new recruits. It was a long fight, but we ended up winning. After we won, we had to trek all the way back - which was almost another whole day. We had a celebration when we got back to the tree. According to Peter, there was no time to rest when we had to celebrate our victory. It was all fun and games, but it was tiring.  
“Do you want to get some air?” Jamie’s soothing voice interrupted my thoughts. I whispered yes, and he got up and walked out of the tree. I stood, wrapping the animal skin I had been sleeping with around my shoulders. I assumed that I didn’t need it, since the weather on our island was almost always perfect, but it felt comforting. I followed Jamie outside of the tree to a log next to the fire pit. We sat close enough on the log so we could whisper without disturbing the others. Even Peter had fallen asleep after the celebration, and he almost never slept. If we woke him, we would never hear the end of it. I grabbed a stick and started to draw in the sand of the fire pit. I knew something was bothering Jamie, so I waited for him to speak.  
“We shouldn’t have taken those boys on a raid so soon.” Ah, so that was it.  
“They’ve barely been here a week.”  
“The walk was longer than normal. Even Peter fell asleep tonight.” Jamie and I always seemed to be thinking the same things.  
“They were all so excited to be here that they wanted to look at everything. They almost threw a party over a pebble.” I giggled a little, remembering how excited Tripp had gotten when he saw a smooth, brown stone. He put it in his pocket for safe keeping.  
“We almost didn’t win today.”  
I glanced over to him, surprised. Looking at him now, I realized that he hadn’t slept at all. Jamie was always concerned for the other boys. Peter hated mothers, but Jamie was as close to a mother to these boys as you could get. When one of us was sick, Jamie took care of us. When we were hungry, he made sure we had food. I knew he didn’t want to admit it, but Jamie was more of a leader than Peter was. He continued.  
“They put up a fight today.”  
“I noticed.”  
“If we hadn’t been there, half of those boys would have been dead.”  
Jamie and I had taken on most of the pirates. That was why I was so tired. The boys who had been here for many seasons teamed up with the new boys, almost instinctively, but Jamie and I took out a majority of them on our own. As always, Peter teased the captain, so he wasn’t of much help to anyone except himself.  
Peter was a very selfish boy. If anyone heard me think like that, they would have thought that I was crazy. These boys worshiped Peter, but after being there for so long, I was starting to see things differently. It was causing me to grow. I noticed it a few days before and told Jamie that night, but we decided to not say anything to the others. Jamie was my closest friend here, and we both knew it. He was the only one that knew my secrets and I would keep all of his.  
“You fought well today.” I gave Jamie a pat on the back and kept my hand there. He leaned into it. I wondered if he enjoyed the comfort. I felt him sigh and I started to rub his back.  
“If we hadn’t, those boys wouldn’t be here.” He sounded sad and tired.  
“Jamie, you care so much about these boys.” I moved my arm around his shoulder and pulled him a little closer to me. “They’ll be okay. We’ll teach them.” He nodded, but I could tell he was tired. I was tired, too. I stood and pulled Jamie up with me. We walked close together back into the tree.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke to Peter’s crowing - that incessant crow that I heard even in nightmares. Jamie was still in my arms and I immediately rolled away. I knew Peter had already seen, but the other boys didn’t need to see that sometimes Jamie needed to be taken care of, too. I would hear about this by the end of the day.   
The other boys stirred and slowly started to get up. Leaving their skins in piles on the floor, they wandered out of the tree. Jamie was still sleeping as I picked up the skins. I walked over to him and nudged him with my foot.   
“Wake up, sleeping beauty.” He stirred and looked up at me. I could see how tired he was and I smiled. It was a phrase that my mother once taught me. I was starting to remember things about her. This would be something to share later.   
“What’s he up to today?” Jamie asked. I shrugged. We would find out.  
I folded the skins and placed them neatly by the fireplace. It was the same routine every day - the boys woke up, left a mess, and I cleaned it. Jamie and I looked out for them and they would leave the same mess. I occasionally got a thank you from one or two of the newer boys, but this would fade in time. The longer they stayed, the messier they got.   
I went out into the clearing and the boys were all sitting in the sand of the fire pit. They were passing around oranges, peeling the rind off of the fruit and eating them for breakfast. The smell was sweet and I sat down next to Shadow. I crossed my legs and he handed me half of the orange he was eating. I nodded in thanks and felt Jamie sit down next to me. Hawk was on his other side. 

I guess I should probably tell you about the boys. There are 13 of us in total, including Peter. Peter, Jamie, Shadow, Oliver and Henry, Thistle, Hawk, Jasper, and I have all been here together for a long time. The four new boys, some of whom don’t have names, were all brought before the raid.  
Peter has been here the longest. He brought us all here from the Other Place, promising we would never grow up. He knows the island better than anybody, and he seems to communicate with it without even saying a word. He looks like he would be 11 and he has freckles and red hair. He wears clothes made of leaves and he has a wild look about him - one that would probably scare you if you saw him on a street corner.   
Jamie is next. Peter brought Jamie here first. Jamie looks like he could be 13, and he is the tallest of us all. He has dark hair that matches a set of dark eyes. He is lean and his muscles are envious. Many seasons of fighting had given him scars and a commanding presence.  
I was brought here after Jamie. My name is Al. There’s not much about me that’s important.   
Shadow came the same night as me. I think he told me he was 12 when we came. Shadow has hair as black as night, but bright blue eyes, like the sky. I used to wonder if that was why Peter brought him. He is a good fighter and he is kind. He is the best hunter of us all, because he’s so quiet. He barely makes any noise. That’s why he’s called Shadow.  
Oliver and Henry came after Shadow. They’re twins and they do almost everything together. When they came from The Other Place, they argued about whether or not they were 10. They both have dark skin and dark eyes and their smiles are infectious. They have the loudest laughs and are almost always fighting.   
Thistle came next. He was on the taller side of all of our boys and was about 11 when he was brought over. His skin is lighter than all of ours and his hair is always a mess - hence the name Thistle. His hair is a color similar to Peter’s, but a little more sandy in color. He is the best at gathering fruit - he can climb trees like a spider.   
Hawk and Jasper came together. They only came a few seasons ago, but they are well versed in the ways of our island. They will both forever be 9 and have similar colored brown hair. They aren’t related, but I think they might have been when they lived in The Other Place and just don’t remember. Jasper is taller than Hawk and his eyes are brown, but Hawk’s eyes are almost yellow. They both enjoy fighting with the twins.   
Some of our boys have names from the Other Place because we remember them. Some never knew their names, or they forgot them when they got here. It happened to some of us. If you didn’t remember your name or have one, Peter would name you. He has a special ceremony for names. It’s a little silly, but it makes the boys who don’t have names feel welcome.   
Two of the new boys, Tripp and Artie, knew their names when they came over. They were both taller and told us they were 11 when the came - the same as Peter. Tripp had dark hair and Artie had red hair like Peter’s. Both of the boys had brown eyes and lean muscles.   
The other two still didn’t have any. That might be why Peter woke us up early today.

I had been absentmindedly eating my orange when Shadow knocked me over. Oliver and Henry had started wrestling and soon enough, Hawk and Jasper were in on the fighting. They were yelling about the oranges, but there were too many voices to hear what exactly they were arguing about. Shadow had knocked me over trying to get them to stop.   
“It’s too early for this! Give it a rest, will ya?” Shadow shouted. The boys continued to roll around in the dirt, almost rolling into the fire pit. I rolled my eyes and moved myself closer to Jamie. Shadow sat back down with a huff and turned to me. “Sorry I knocked you over, Al.” I shook my head to tell him not to worry.   
We watched the boys wrestle for quite some time, and soon enough, the four new boys were in on the fighting as well. Peter crowed with excitement and laughed as they all rolled around, hitting each other. Thistle plopped down on the other side of Jamie and started talking about the raid. I could tell that Jamie wasn’t listening, because he just nodded and continued to eat his orange. Thistle didn’t seem to notice.  
“Boys! It’s time for something exciting!” Peter’s voice rang through our clearing. The boys fighting in the sand pit all came to a halt and looked up at Peter, who had been sitting in the branches of our tree.   
“Peter, we did something exciting yesterday!” Oliver replied.   
“And the day before that!” His brother finished his thought.   
“Are you tired?!” Peter was already starting to get impatient and the day hadn’t even fully started. The boys quickly shook their heads and shouted no over each other. “We’re going to have our naming ceremony today!”  
The rest of the boys cheered and started to push around the unnamed boys. Their faces were lit up with excitement as I stood and walked over to them to lead them away from the group. It was always my job to keep the unnamed boys away from the others who were getting ready. I scooped down and picked up some more oranges. These were our smallest boys yet - they needed all of the food they could get. I placed my arms around them.  
“Come now, the others have to get ready.”


End file.
